Mattoonbeachtri.com

Botanical Name: Crataegus oxyacentha

Healing Properties:
As a cardiovascular tonic and heart,
Hawthorne dilates blood vessels and relaxes,
lowering blood pressure and improving general circulation.

Hawthorne is also helpful as a tonic for men, not only balancing and enhancing to the adrogenic hormones in general, but its ability to dilate and relax blood vessels makes it useful for erectile dysfunction.

No Known Toxicities or Interactions:
Hawthorne may be toxic in sudden excessively large doses, but as a regular tonic it is safe, even with prescription medications. If anything, medication doses may need to be decreased gradually over time as Hawthorne’s effects nourish the cardiovascular system.

Suggested Serving: Prepare a tincture from the fresh or dried berries, harvested in the fall.
Preventive tonic 1 dropperful daily or 2 dropperfuls 3-4 times a week.
Healing tonic 4-12 dropperfuls daily (start with 4 and increase gradually).
Male tonic 1-2 dropperfuls daily.

As a Preventive Tonic:
Hawthorne is very helpful for people at risk for diseases of the heart & blood vessels. Risk factors include a family history of heart attacks, strokes, hypertension, and diabetes, a sedentary lifestyle with little or no exercise, poor nutritional habits and high cholesterol levels, moderate to high caffeine intake (switch from these beverages to Oatstraw or Nettle infusions) and of course nicotine use/abuse.

Although quitting is the best and only true remedy for smoking, if you haven’t managed to quit those cigarettes yet, use Hawthorne tincture daily to help counteract some, not all, of the harmful effects. Drink one of the nourishing infusions daily as well to help saturate your cells and tissues with oxygen and nutrients. This will help prevent respiratory infections which smokers are more prone to, and replace depleted vitamin and mineral stores such as Vitamin C and calcium which smoking strips away.

As a Healing Tonic:
Used daily as part of an overall diet & exercise program, Hawthorne helps keep a mild hypertension (high blood pressure) in the normal range, without prescription medications. Over time it helps lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Hawthorne is also helpful for preventing the painful spasms associated with Raynaud’s Syndrome, an over-reaction to cold exposure, and those who’ve had a previous frostbite.

Use Hawthorne as part of the treatment plan when there is active heart and blood vessel disease present. People with the following conditions, and on medications (including blood thinners) for these conditions, can benefit from regular Hawthorne tonic: Heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure (CHF), angina pectoris, heart irregularities, palpitations and murmurs, diabetes, kidney disease, high cholesterol, arteriosclerosis with blood clots and narrowed vessels, peripheral vascular disease (PVD).

To add Hawthorne to your plan, start with 1-2 dropperfuls, 3 times a day. Add it to a nourishing infusion or drop it in a little water and drink a glass of water afterward. Each week add 1 dropperful more to the 3 daily doses until you are consistently taking 4 dropperfuls, 3 times a day. Hawthorne is a slow tonic and usually requires regular use for 3-6 months before significant effects are seen. Keep with it even if you don’t feel changes. It’s still helping!

It is very important to inform your doctor or health care provider if you are taking Hawthorne, or any herbal preparations for that matter, along with prescription medications. Your blood pressure, blood work, etc. will need to be monitored as your condition improves due to the healthful effects of the tonic. Although Hawthorne will not interfere with medications per se, the medications may start working “too well” and require a gradual decrease in doses over time.

This should always be done in conjunction with your regular health care. Prescription medications that treat significant problems of the heart and blood vessels should NEVER be stopped suddenly, nor even decreased, without your doctor’s knowledge and recommendation. Hawthorne will not take the place of your medications. It will however, strengthen and tone your cardiovascular system, nourishing damaged tissues and preventing or slowing further harm.

As a Male Tonic:
Hawthorne nourishes the male hormonal system, acting as a natural male steroid, mildly increasing the libido in middle-aged and aging men. It also has mild diuretic, water-releasing, and astringent effects which support the kidneys and urinary system when there is prostate enlargement.

Hawthorne’s cardiovascular effects promote healthy erectile function and may help counteract the sexual problems very commonly experienced by men taking medications to lower blood pressure.

Comments are closed.